Jamie Foxx reportedly up for the villain in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will face off against a "shocking" new adversary in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." According to Variety, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx is in early talks to play the villain Electro in Sony's superhero sequel to this summer's reboot of the Marvel Comics' franchise.

While the studio hasn't officially commented on casting, Foxx all but confirmed the role Thursday with a post-Halloween tweet:
Dressed up as Electro for Halloween last night. Costume fits well.
— Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx) November 1, 2012

The classic Spidey villain Electro, aka Maxwell "Max" Dillon, gained the ability to control electricity after being struck by lightning. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man #9" in February 1964. Foxx would be a departure from the comic-book character, who has traditionally been depicted as being Caucasian.

There was a hint that Electro would be the villain of the next movie at the end of "The Amazing Spider-Man." In a short scene during the credits, Dr. Curt Conners, aka the Lizard (played by Rhys Ifans), was visited in his jail cell by a mysterious figure obscured in the shadows. The man (played by actor Micheal Masse) asked Connors if he told Peter Parker the truth about his father, and when Connors says no, he disappears with a flash of lightning. This lead some people to assume that figure was supposed to be Electro, but others believe it to be Norman Osborn, who was mentioned throughout the film (and later becomes the villain, Green Goblin).

This would be the first time Electro would appear in a movie, but back in 1991, director James Cameron developed his own "Spider-Man" project that would have featured the character as one of the villains. Cameron's version got caught up in a web of legal issues surrounding the rights, and he eventually left the project, going on to direct "True Lies" and "Titanic." "Spider-Man" wouldn't hit the big screen until the next decade.

Stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are set to reprise their roles as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, respectively, with Shailene Woodley ("The Descendants") reportedly in talks to join the cast as a young Mary Jane Watson. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is scheduled to swing into theaters on May 2, 2014. Jamie Foxx will next be seen playing the title role in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," opening this Christmas.

UPDATE: In an interview with Collider.com, director Marc Webb confirmed that the villain of the sequel will be Electro. He said, "I think Electro is an incredibly visual, exciting, dangerous villain. So, there's a lot of appealing stuff that's going to happen."

It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man to swing into theaters, and already its sequel is on the way. In the last few months we've heard some huge casting news, from the addition of Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne and Shailene Woodleyas Mary Jane to Jamie Foxx as Electro and possibly Paul Giamatti as The Rhino. Now that the origin story is out of the way we're fascinated to see what kind of story the director will be spinning for part two. And it all begins today.

Webb has announced on his Twitter account that production has officially started on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and has posted a picture to mark the occasion. Posted with the message, "Day 1. #anamorphic #film #philthecameraoperator," what's interesting about the photo is that the director appears to be using film instead of shooting digitally (like he did for the last movie), which means that he's not shooting in 3D here.

Sony was under a contractual deadline. Either reboot immediately or watch the rights revert back to Marvel.

My understanding was that Sony didn't need to reboot it -- they needed to make a movie or lose the rights.

I understand why they didn't want to continue the Raimi series, but they could've at least assumed we're all familiar with how Spider-Man got his powers and skipped the origin, which I thought was the weakest part of the new movie. Raimi's first one did it better, even as corny as it was.

But once it got past the origin, Webb's version was interesting if not amazing. I look forward to the next one.

But once it got past the origin, Webb's version was interesting if not amazing. I look forward to the next one.

I agree. I liked that the new one was more old school Spidey (like have to make his own webbing) than the Raimi ones. One change I did like was making Aunt May more badass. The weak, frail Aunt May plot devices from the comics got old over time.

IGN has a story up that shows a locker with the number 14, from a set photo tweeted by Marc Webb with the hashtag #happybirthday. Knowing Dane Dehaan has been cast as Harry Osborn fans have already started freaking out about the picture and drawing conclusions from it.

In the Ultimate Spiderman comics Eddie Brock and Peter Parker find the Venom suit in a locker with the same number. February 6th is Dehaans birthday and Josh Trank, who directed Chronicle, is set to direct the Venom stand alone movie. All signs point to Dehaan being Venom outside of him being cast as Harry Osborn. I think Dehaan, the actor, would make a great Venom. However I'm tired of the skinny Venom, didn't like it in Spidey 3, don't like the idea of it now.

OMG, Spider-Man is going to cameo in this summer’s Iron Man 3, where Peter Parker will help Tony Stark take down The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), who receives his power from ten cosmic rings he obtained from the alien technology of a crashed spaceship! Seriously! Why else would The Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb Tweet this latest photo other than to drive Spider-Man fans mad? It’s so obviously a confession of a Mighty Marvel Team-Up … right?!

OK, so this is just the new photo posted to Webb’s busy Twitter account, and it could mean everything – or nothing at all. The director has teased a few tantalizing images on his account that usually send Spidey trackers (like myself) into a frenzy to figure out what he might mean. An ominous locker? It has to mean Venom. Right?

Today’s photo shows a layout of various designs for ring tattoos. For all we know Webb is in the market for his own tattoo, and decided to share his decision with friends, family and followers. But he tagged it as “Day 18” of the current ASM 2 shoot. And he hashtagged it with #pravda. That’s where things get interesting.

Pravda, if you do a little digging, is the Russian word for truth and also a political newspaper associated with the country's Communist party. The paper was closed by Russian President Boris Yelstin temporarily before being revived by the Communists to be their vocal mouthpiece. Could this be an allusion to Paul Giamatti’s Rhino character? In the comics, the Rhino is also known as Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich, a Russian mafioso who morphs into his brutish super-criminal when special armor is bonded to his body.

Or Webb could simply have been tweeting from the American lounge Pravda SoHo, which is famous for its Russian vodka.

No matter how you spin it, Webb has all of us dancing on his web as he continues to tease his sequel. May 2, 2014 can not get here quick enough.

I like that the Spider-Man reboot is old school but some of those early villains were lame. The Rhino is one of the lame ones. So is the Shocker. How about Mysterio or the Vulture if they are going to avoid doing the Green Goblin again?